Special Christmas Presents

C made these for J and I at school.  He insisted we open them the night he brought them home...he was so excited :)

But my favorite was the card...

Translation:

Merry Christmas

I love you Dad and Mom

Off To Grandmas' Houses We Go

After church we went back to our house, packed the Silver Bullet and headed "home."

First stop was Grandma Brenda's where we ate a DELICIOUS (the lady can COOK!) late lunch and spent time with Grandma and Aunt Staci.

Thanks for the feetie jammers, Aunt Staci!  (A cool present in its own right, but especially impressive  and thoughtful considering Aunt Staci was very sick with mono, taking final exams, AND Christmas present shopping the two weeks preceding Christmas!) 

Grandma Brenda made G her very own Coloring Book/Crayon Pocket book!  Perfect size for G to transport a coloring book and crayons around!  You can't see it in this picture because the strap is in the way, but the bag is monogrammed with a G :)

Next stop Papa and Grandma's house

And while I'm on the subject of Papa and Grandma...word on the street is that my dad (aka Papa) went to town of his own accord and without provocation to purchase the Barbie G received.  Seriously, who is this man!?!  This just confirms my suspicion that my parents have fallen victim to an invasion of Body Snatchers :)

We went to my sister's house (she lives across the street from my parents) for supper with extended family.  Always good food and fun times!

All the first cousins...it is pretty much impossible to get a picture with all 4 looking at the camera :)

C (age 6); G (age 3.5), Hayden (age 3.5), and Kaitlyn aka KK (age 2)

This girl is a TOO FUNNY - between KK and G the grown-ups in our family don't stand a chance!

We didn't get to see Grandma H (my dad's mom) on Christmas day.  Thankfully, we were able to visit with her before we left "home." Love me some Grandma H! :)

Sometimes it is easy to get overwhelmed as I approach Christmas.  Trying to figure out who we are going to visit when, travel arrangements, etc.  But as I look at these pictures and reflect on our Christmas celebrations  I am SO VERY THANKFUL for each person that God has put in our family either by relation or by marriage...some of which I wasn't even able to see because we elected to stay home on Christmas Eve.    It may make for a hectic Christmas but I wouldn't trade'em for anything!  

Wakey-Wakey It's Christmas Morning!

So in addition to going right to sleep Christmas Eve night, C and G actually slept a little late on Christmas morning!  Once they did wake up and remembered it was Christmas morning, they were READY. TO. GO!

Daddy had fun too!

I got some kickn' PJs!

 Sadly they didn't fit :(

Oh...what's that...I think there might be one more present outside!!!!

Then J made us yummy Christmas Omelets!

After a delicious breakfast, the kids played for a bit then we got ready to go to church.  Church on Christmas morning is COOL!  Happy Birthday Jesus!!!

A New Kind of Christmas Eve

For the first time since the year C was born (2005) we spent Christmas Eve/Christmas morning at our house, just the four of us!  In the years past, we packed everybody/everything up and spent Dec 23 - 25th with our folks, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, great-grandmas, etc...  There was a part of me that really missed our normal Christmas routine, but I also enjoyed the more laid-back Christmas Eve/Christmas morning that being in our own home afforded!

Christmas Eve morning didn't get off to the best start with C complaining of ear pain.  Thankfully, J was able to take C to our pediatrician before they closed for the day to get an antibiotic.  What a wonderful blessing!  I'm so thankful that he didn't have to suffer through the holiday with an earache!  

Our neighbors and close friends came over for lunch. Since the weather was so warm, the kids spent most of the afternoon playing in the yard.  

They finally came in when we told them it was time to exchange presents :)

That evening we went to the candlelight Christmas Eve service at our church.  I'd never been to a Christmas Eve service before. I really enjoyed it!  Provided a wonderful opportunity to re-focus on Jesus!  On the way home, J was asking the kids what they thought of the service.  C informed us that he really enjoyed the service.  His favorite part was blowing out the candle.  He also mentioned that he LICKED the candle that it "doesn't taste too bad...really!"  He proceeded to explain that it tastes kinda like a glue stick...which after further questioning we understand he tasted at school one day....I tell ya what, that boy sure does keep things interesting around here :)

When we got home, we let the kids open one present (their new pjs).  C was OVERJOYED to learn that they do in fact make "feety-jammers" in his size :)

G was pretty excited too

They enjoyed some gingerbread cookies that our neighbor dropped off

J roasted (a new hobby) some coffee for Christmas morning

G "helped" 

Next up:  BEDTIME!  And much to my surprise, they both fell asleep almost immediately...a Christmas miracle! :)

Dollar Store and McDonald's Ice Cream

On Thursday the kids and I visited with Mrs. Delores.  She wanted to take the kids to the Dollar Store so they could pick out their Christmas presents and then treat us to McDonald's in honor of C's birthday .[Seriously, his has got to be the most thoroughly celebrated 6th birthday EVER :]

When we got to the Dollar Store she told the kiddos that they could pick out two items each for Christmas and then C was allowed to pick out an additional two items for his birthday.  I gotta say - this was perhaps one of the best kiddo Christmas present ideas of all times!  I can not tell you how excited the kids were.  I guess there's a lot of freedom in walking through a store and knowing that anything you see could be yours :)  C picked out his 4 items in about 1 minute and never looked back...it's like he'd been dreaming of the day and had it already planned out :)  G, on the other hand, took a great deal of time deliberating her options.  Both are very happy with their selections!

After the Dollar Store we went to Micky-D's for lunch where the kids enjoyed a surprise ice cream cone treat! 

Mrs. Delores is LOTS of fun! We are very thankful for her and know that the Lord has blessed us richly with her friendship!

Grace List

It is Christmas Eve Eve and C is unable to sleep.  He's really excited! :)  

J went up to talk with him.  He was in C's room about 15 minutes and came back downstairs laughing.  In addition to discussing the Order of Events for the next two days, C voiced some concerns he has over the rigidity of Santa's Naught/Nice Lists.  

Here J's paraphrase of C's assertion:

Dad, I wish there was a Grace List.  There's a Naughty List and a Nice List.  I don't think I can be good enough to be on the Nice List, but if there was a Grace List then even if I was a little bit bad I could still get presents.  It's just too hard to be good ALL the time.  We should talk to Santa about a Grace List.

Hehehe...pretty hard to argue with his logic, huh :)

Silly Sunday

WHAT a pair of clowns!  I'm guessing their Sunday School teachers had their work cut out for them that particular morning :)

Newly Discovered Christmas Tree Footage

I was SO happy to find these on J's camera.  They were taken the night we decorated the Christmas tree (after we got the Christmas tree light snafoo worked out)YEAH!

C was very excited to finally be able to get started!

I think this was the first ornament up...

Yep - we're still rocking the primer coat on the fireplace :)

This picture is pretty much par for the course. G striking a pose completely unconcerned that her brother is in hot water with Momma :)

All G!

I love, love, LOVE that J is a bit of an amateur photographer!  He's taken some of my favorite pictures that most accurately capture our little crew's personality.  These are no exception...they are all G! :)

This girl almost always has her hands on her hips :)

Hahahahaha!

Daddy's soooo funny!